During the first half of 2014, incoming tourists decreased by 25% compared to the same period last year.(AFP photo)

The Ministry of Tourism plans to launch a promotional campaign to attract visitors from Europe throughout August in France, Germany, Britain, Italy, and Russia, said Ahmed Shoukry, head of the international tourism sector at the Tourism Activation Authority.

Shoukry said that the campaign would engage directly with the markets that account for 72% of total annual tourism traffic.

Incoming tourism traffic in Egypt fell during the first half of this year to 4.4 million tourists, a decrease of 25% from the same period in 2013.

Shoukry described a number of European countries lifting travel warnings for Sharm El-Sheikh as an important step on the path to restore tourism from these markets.

According to deputy chairman of Egypt’s Chamber of Hotels, Hany Al-Shaer, the direct promotional campaigns executed by hotel management companies garners more success than other means, adding that tourism will increase starting in October.

Occupancies in the city of Sharm El-Sheikh increased to over 40% this week after four European countries lifted travel warnings to the city, said Al-Shaer.

The Ministry of Tourism conducted an evaluation of the charter flight system in order to understand how to continuously subsidise vacant seats , employ a new system for filled seats, or work in accordance with the two filled and vacant seat systems according to the Chairman of the Federation of Chambers of Tourism Ilhamy Zayat.

He mentioned that it is necessary to incentivise tourism traffic in Egypt, especially from the European market, as this represents more than 90% of total tourism to Egypt.

Allocations for charter flights last year were valued at $15m according to Zayat, who does not expect the figure to increase over the next year.